Blackhoof is about 20% into level 69. What’s he spend his time doing? Farming motes. Water breathing helps immensely getting Motes of Water from the water elementals in the lake north of Garand, in Nagrand. The air elementals also found in Nagrand supply Motes of Air occasionally. Then he’ll fly up to Area 52 in Netherstorm and fight various mobs for Motes of Mana. Water and Mana are plentiful. Air can be, but last night it wasn’t. It seems there are areas reachable only by flying where there are more, but he’s not 70 yet, and not flying.

He does have Transmutation Mastery, except I don’t see where it says that in my character info. And the one Transmutation I did, for Primal Might, resulted in one Primal Might. (So no proof that it works yet.)

Now I could be doing quests. But I figure I’ll have to get these motes sometime. May as well save the questing for when I’m 70 and the XP I could have earned just translates into gold. Every mote I get is roughly 10 mobs, and that’s a lot of xp I’d be losing out on. So, he farms motes. And, damn, does that take time.

He’s not the only one.

Msaker, after the grueling drive to 300 Blacksmithing, and getting the full Imperial Plate plans, because he could, circling the Plaguelands looking for Thorium during free moments, is now circling the Outlands (a loop that stretches from Thrallmar, through the marsh, into Terrokar, yes, by wolfback) looking for ore veins. He’s now at 330 Blacksmithing so far, and a bank full of gems for some jewelcrafter to cut for him. And mining brings in Motes of Earth and Motes of Fire. Together they ought to be able to produce a Primal Might every day.

Where do/will the Primal Mights and the ore go? Ultimately into a The Planar Edge for Msaker. (That is until this patches collection of nerfs drives the material cost up.)

Otherwise Darbanville is kept busy just selling all the greens and blues that drop, or get crafted, in the Auction House.

Alliance side we just checked out mail boxes and took care of some admin business.

Can you tell we didn’t really play last night? And, yet, still put hours into it?

Otherwise, a normal gaming session, Msaker and Droonda, or any of our other couples, will find us questing and enjoying the changes of pace.

And what will the material farming get us? Better gear, for starters. We don’t really instance, and that’s a handicap. Msaker and Droondas last venture into Ramparts failed, yet again, to kill the Dragon. One single Death before the Dragon, and yet unable to kill the Dragon. Blackhoof has been into Coilfang a few times, and the groups always fall apart before the last bosses are killed. (No, wait, one time he was invited in for the last boss that they took down.) The Fel Iron Plate has good stamina on it (the Imperial Plate set of the beginning Outlands, but all trainer provided) and is a set with bonuses. The Fel Iron Chain, for fighting Shamans and Hunters, isn’t bad either. GRANTED it’s not the leet best you can get, but for a husband-wife team, playing relatively casually, it’s not bad. And the axesmithing will provide an epic axe for him, The Planar Edge. Otherwise, group quests are possible, and planned on, especially the Ring of Blood and Wanted: Durn the Hungerer. That’ll provide a nice one-hand fist weapon for Droonda, a nice two-hand axe for Msaker, a nice healing dagger for Droonda, and a decent tanking sword for Msaker. (The 2nd fist weapon, Droonda dual wields, is the main-hand we can buy off the Consortium vendor in Stormspire.) We can get to 70, easily, with this. And once 70 I’m sure knocking out instances will be easier. Particularly if we return to the states and can raid with the guilds.

The Motes and Primal business will also be a profitable one, in the future. A Primal Air sells for, or is is being sold at, rather, 30g. Not sure what the Primal Mights sell for. It must be a healthy amount.

Too bad there appears to be no money to be made Axesmithing. The good stuff is all Bind on Pickup. You can provide mid-range stuff to the masses, but only the good stuff to yourself. Is this unique to Blacksmithing and Engineering?

I guess this all comes to mind in recent discussions about what the end-game is. Or what it can be. It’s not all instance raiding. Some folks make a game out of crafting. Some folks make a game out generating income. Some folks make a game out of roleplaying. (“Zug, zug.” There. My Roleplaying is done for the day.) Hell, I’m making a game out getting to level 70! 🙂

With all my characters, so many yet to get to 60, much less 70, this game has got some damn long legs. And, frankly, I’ve yet to get bored.

P.S. I *am* curious what the next Blizzard product will be. Buzz is a new MMORPG. World of … Starcraft?

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Kinless, once you hit 70, if you are still collecting motes. Try to hit the “Elemental Plateau” just north (you have to have a flying mount) of where you are farming Water Elementals. There are large numbers of Air Elementals, Fire Elementals, Earth Elementals, and Water Elementals just west of that area with a fairly high drop rate for motes.